Diagnosis is a new Netflix doco about Dr Lisa Sander’s NYT column and patients trying to crowd-source a diagnosis of their problems after doctors couldn’t help. Via the New York Times:
When Dr. Lisa Sanders saw an early version of the forthcoming Netflix documentary series about her efforts to help diagnose the mysterious ailments of eight patients, she delivered what she now readily admits was “badly designed feedback.”
“Stop! Stop! This is awful!” Dr. Sanders recalls saying. “Oh, my God, this is terrible! You can’t do it like that! You can’t say things like that!”
Granted, the producers were trying to create an innovative show, for the first time asking the global audience of the popular column Dr. Sanders has written for The New York Times Magazine since 2002 to help diagnose seemingly impossible medical cases.
But Dr. Sanders, an internist, felt that subtle and important things were off in the way that early cut portrayed the stakes of a diagnosis, the overwhelming doubt patients can feel, doctors’ talks with patients and, in short, her life’s work.
The final cut of the show — like her column, called “Diagnosis” — which Netflix released today, fixed all that, capturing her beliefs about diagnosis and the lessons she’s learned over the course of her career.